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Archive for September 22nd, 2012

Caracas, September 20th 2012 (Venezuelanalysis) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met with thousands of the country’s youth on Wednesday in Caracas, where he called on them to keep organising to guarantee the victory of the revolution ahead of the country’s presidential elections in October.

The Venezuelan president, who is standing against right-wing candidate Capriles Radonski in the October elections, appealed to those in the crowd to take to the streets in order to mount “the perfect battle” for the elections.

“I am asking you, with that incredible atomic energy that you possess and with that intelligence and consciousness, that you give it your all in these remaining days… it’s a battle we have to win” said Chavez.

The event was held in a sports stadium in Caracas, where youths waved banners and chanted slogans in support of the socialist president. Many young artists and sportspeople attended the rally, including the Olympic boxer, Karla Maglioco, who said that Venezuelan athletes felt “committed to the revolution, and that’s why we are giving our total support to the revolutionary, Hugo Chavez Frías, on October 7th”.

As well as speaking about the elections, Chavez went on to outline the advances made by the Bolivarian revolution for young people in the areas of sport, education and culture, and contrasted the Venezuelan model with that of Europe.

“Capitalism is robbing the youth’s future, whilst socialism gives them back their homeland and makes their present good and their future big,” he told the crowd

The Venezuelan head of state was also presented with a technological project by Ricardo Javier Gómez, an electrical engineer from the National Experimental University of Security (UNES). The project is a robot designed to help with the harvesting of citrus fruit and was carried out with the support of national government.

“Today scientists and technologists are studying the needs of the worker, because we know that agricultural work is a difficult job,” said Gomez.

The engineer also emphasised that the technological support provided by the Chavez administration is different from that of capitalist governments, as it doesn’t seek to replace the worker or “separate the worker from his place of work, but to make that work easier,” Gomez explained.

Chavez also told the youths that they would be responsible for carrying out the socialist project that began with his election in 1998.

“Trust in me, because I’m putting my life and all my efforts at your orders, so you can accelerate and deepen (the project of) your homeland, which is the socialist homeland… I am counting on you for October 7th, boys and girls, you can count on Chavez your whole life,” he said.

Spokespeople from the youth sector of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (JPSUV) at the event said that they were actively committed to supporting Chavez in his bid to win the elections with more than 10 million votes.

“On October 7th we will give a resounding victory to the homeland’s candidate, and a defeat to the ‘majunche’ (deadbeat opposition),” said a militant from the JPSUV to Venezuelan news channel, RNV.

“The San Patricios were alienated both from American society as well as the US Army. They realized that the army was not fighting a war of liberty, but one of conquest against fellow Catholics such as themselves.”
–Professor Kirby Miller of the University of Missouri, Irish immigration expert.

A Galway soldier’s heroic exploits fighting for Mexico during the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848 has led to the Government of Mexico bestowing its highest honour for non-Mexicans upon The Chieftains’ founder Paddy Moloney.

In 2010, The Chieftains recorded the album ‘San Patricio’, which told the story of the Irish Saint Patrick’s Battalion, who fought for Mexico against the Americans, led by Galway man Sergeant John Riley, who hailed from Clifden.

Among the contributors to the ‘San Patricio’ album was Hollywood star Liam Neeson, who has asked to play the part of Sgt Riley should a planned film about the Irish Battalion come to pass. Mr Moloney revealed that he has already held talks with ‘Michael Collins’ director Neil Jordan about making the film.

“Twenty-five years ago I was researching music of the American Civil War and I came across this intriguing, fascinating, untold piece of history called the Saint Patrick’s Battalion, the Irish soldiers, among them Sergeant John Riley, a native of Clifden, Co. Galway, who joined forces with the Mexican side during the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848,” said Mr Moloney.

He added that he has known Liam Neeson for years and thought his voice was “just spot on” for the album. “I called him up and told him the story and he was just fascinated by it and the comment from him was, ‘If you make a movie of this, I want to be Galway man John Riley, the commander’,” recalled the Chieftain’s founder-member.

In recognition of Mr Moloney’s work on the ‘San Patricio’ album, The Ambassador of Mexico to Ireland, Mr Carlos Garcia de Alba announced that Mr Moloney is the latest recipient of the prestigious ‘Ohtli’. The award is Mexico’s highest cultural award to citizens outside of Mexico and is in recognition of Mr Moloney’s contribution to strengthening links between Ireland and Mexico.

More Background: The Saint Patrick’s Battalion (Spanish: Batallón de San Patricio), formed and led by Jon Riley, was a unit of 175 to several hundred immigrants (accounts vary) and expatriates of European descent who fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. Most of the battalion’s members had deserted or defected from the U.S. Army. Made up primarily of ethnic Irish and German Catholic immigrants, the battalion included Canadians, English, French, Italians, Poles, Scots, Spaniards, Swiss, and native Mexicans, most of whom were Roman Catholics. Disenfranchised Americans were in the ranks, including escaped slaves from the American South. The Mexican government offered incentives to foreigners who would enlist in its army: granting them citizenship, paying higher wages than the U.S. Army and the offer of generous land grants. Only a few members of the Saint Patrick’s Battalion were actual U.S. citizens.

It’s official: Quebec tuition hikes are history. The new government repealed the fee hike, by decree, in its first cabinet meeting less than 24 hours after coming to power. Student leaders cheered the news.